It’s been a long time since I graduated
from Oberlin, but I vividly remember performing in a college production
of Shakespeare’s TheTaming of the Shrew. It was my last
time onstage (I discovered my limitations early). As Baptista, I was the
hapless father of strong-willed Katherine, played by Julie Taymor, then
17, who went on to greater things, including creating the Broadway hit
musical The Lion King. That was memorable, to be sure (at least
in retrospect), but perhaps the best part of the experience for me and
other young actors was that the director hired a professional to play
Petruchio. His name was Richard Fancy. (Decades later he was Mr. Lippman
on Seinfeld, Elaine Benes’ first publisher.) Working with Fancy
was an eye-opening experience; one that gave all of us a deeper
appreciation of what it takes to make a living as a performer.

I’ve been reminded of this recently
because Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is partnering with the theater
program at Xavier University to stage Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
(Oct. 25- Nov. 3; tickets are $15-$30; 513-745-3939.) This came about
because Stephen Skiles, who heads XU’s theater program, is friends with
Brian Isaac Phillips, CSC’s artistic director. Skiles was an acting
intern at the Cincinnati Playhouse 16 years ago when Phillips was
recruited to fill out a cast. (He was an intern then, too, working at
Ensemble Theatre.) Now that they’re both running theater programs,
they’ve been eager to explore collaboration.

“Stephen wanted to get his students more
involved in Cincinnati’s professional theater scene,” Phillips told me
recently. CSC produces classic works, but some simply don’t fit
comfortably in the company’s small Race Street space; XU’s Gallagher
Student Center Theatre seats 350, almost twice as many, and it offers an
expansive proscenium stage.

“I’ve been hoping to stage The Crucible for
years, but it requires a big cast,” Phillips adds. “Filling roles with
professionals and students was a great solution.” Coincidentally, CSC’s
current production, Of Mice and Men, didn’t need several of the
company’s female actors, so they were available for Miller’s
female-heavy cast. Additionally, because XU’s students required an
evening rehearsal schedule, that opened up availability to several area
professional actors, including Bruce Cromer, who teaches acting at
Wright State University.

Cromer, seen regularly at the Cincinnati
Playhouse as Ebenezer Scrooge, will be Thomas Danforth, the strict judge
at the Salem Witch Trials. The cast includes Cincinnati Entertainment
Awards Hall of Fame actress Dale Hodges as Rebecca Nurse, and ETC
regulars Michael Bath and Torie Wiggins as Francis Nurse and Tituba.
Phillips has engaged four members of his CSC acting company: Sara Clark
as the vindictive teenager Abigail Williams; Brent Vimtrup and Kelly
Mengelkoch will be John Proctor and his virtuous wife Elizabeth, the
victims of Abigail’s accusations; Billy Chace is Giles Corey. Phillips
is directing, and he convinced Skiles to play the self-centered
minister, Rev. Samuel Parris.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Phillips says.
“It’s fascinating to watch the students rising to the challenge of
working onstage with professionals. They get to see what it takes to
make a career as an actor: running lines, doing vocal warm-ups,
preparing for a scene. They can see how this is a challenging
occupation.” He also mentioned that the CSC actors have had to adjust to
a larger theater with different acoustics, so it’s been a learning
experience for them, too.

It’s worth noting that the drama program at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music produced The Crucible
earlier this month, but with an all-student cast. That presents a
different kind of challenge and experience. The XU production will
feature a cast of age-appropriate performers, an experience that
collegiate productions can only infrequently offer to actors in
training.

Phillips himself is bringing a different
perspective to the work. He has not staged Miller’s show previously, but
he’s seen numerous productions. “Coming to it later in life, I’m
realizing how John Proctor is challenged to teach his children to walk
in the world,” he says. Phillips, now the father of two, says this gives
him insights that he would not have had earlier in his career.

Phillips and Skiles are taking a cautious first-step with The Crucible.
They negotiated a contract with Actors’ Equity Association, the
professional union, to pay actors fairly but not exorbitantly. Their
expectations for attendance are modest. I suspect this will be a
well-received production, both educationally and aesthetically, and I
hope it succeeds. It’s enough to make me want to be back in college.